System and method for using a mobile device to follow a price for an item

ABSTRACT

A mobile device, such as a cellular telephone, is used to obtain information that is indicative of an item, such as a photograph of the item or a scan of an information carrying indicia associated with the item. The information obtained is then used to present on the mobile device a page by which a user can establish parameters for following the price of the item.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

This application claims the benefit of and is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. application Ser. No. 12/038,315, filed on Feb. 27, 2008, whichapplication claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 60/920,063,filed on Mar. 26, 2007, the disclosures of which are incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The descriptions that follow generally relate to retail services and,more particularly, describe a system and method for providing selfservice checkout and item delivery using a mobile device as well as asystem and method for using a mobile device to follow a price for anitem.

In the art systems and methods for using mobile devices in connectionwith retail services are known. For example, PCT Published ApplicationNo. WO 02/33518 generally describes a system in which a barcoderepresenting a URL is imprinted on a page of printed material. A scanner(which can be a web enabled cellular telephone) is used to scan thebarcode and translate the barcode into the URL address. A browser of thescanner uses the URL address to connect to a web page which containsfurther information related to the subject matter found on the printedmaterial. The web page may also provide for the purchase of an item orservice.

U.S. Published Application No. 2005/0125301 generally describes a systemthat enables a user to instantly purchase items using a camera equippedmobile device, such as a cellular telephone. To purchase an item, a userutilizes the mobile device to scan a barcode for the item as it isdisplayed on a video screen. The barcode information and userinformation is then sent to a vendor server. The vendor server utilizesthe user information to authenticate the user and to look up the user'spayment and account information. This information is then passed to atransaction system by the vendor server in order to complete atransaction for the item.

JP Published Application No. 2002/170028 generally describes a systemthat allows a user to receive an electronic coupon on a mobile device,such as a cellular telephone, by accessing the Web using the mobiledevice.

PCT Published Application WO 01/97105 generally describes a system inwhich a mobile device with a bar code scanner, such as a cellulartelephone, is used to scan a barcode associated with an advertisement toaccess a web page having item information and/or to purchase an item viathe web.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,311 generally describes a cellular telephoneapplication that decodes an image of a barcode, taken with a digitalcamera of the cellular telephone, to obtain barcode information that is,in turn, used to access web content that is associated with the barcodeinformation.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,193 generally describes a system in which a device,equipped with a scanner, is used to read marks on an object, e.g., abarcode. The device then transmits a request to a server which includesdata related to the read marks and the server responds by providing tothe device multimedia information about the object.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,993,573 generally describes a system in which a cellphone is used to capture an image of a barcode and the cell phone usesthe image to issue a URL request. The URL request is transmitted to aserver and the server returns to the cell phone an information URL. Thecell phone then transmits the information URL to an information serverand in response receives content that is associated with the scannedbarcode.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,048 generally describes a system in which a devicereads a “data carrier modulated with an index” (e.g., a UPC label) andwhich uses the index to access a pointer to a remote computer. Thepointer is then used to establish communication with the remotecomputer.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,773 generally describes a system in which a devicereads an indicia provided on an ordinary article of commerce (e.g., aUPC label) and which uses the indicia to retrieve a network address thathas been associated with the indicia.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,769,018 and 6,049,835 generally describe a system inwhich “jump codes” are published. A published “jump code” is entered ata first Internet location and the first Internet location converts the“jump code” to a URL address.

Various systems and methods for providing retail pickup services arealso known in the art. For example U.S. Pat. No. 7,024,378 generallydescribes a method for providing vehicle pick-up service to a customer.The method involves a customer providing ID information to an“identification and control station” upon arriving at the pick-upfacility/parking lot. The ID information may be read from a card, may beprovided on a purchase receipt, etc. After the customer's ID informationis provided, the customer is assigned a parking space and the goodsordered by the customer are delivered to that parking space.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,054,832 generally describes a method for providingvehicle pick-up service to a customer. The method involves a customerproviding ID information to a “customer detection and identificationstation” upon arriving at the pick-up facility/parking lot. The IDinformation may be read from a card, a tag, etc. or may be keyed into“an input device.” Upon providing the ID information, the customer maybe assigned a parking space to which the goods ordered by the customerwill be delivered. Alternatively, the customer can select a parkingspace and provide their ID information to the “customer detection andidentification station” that is associated with the parking spaceselected by the customer.

PCT Published Application No. WO 2006/126996 generally describes amethod for providing vehicle pick-up service to a customer. The customeris assigned a PIN and, once the customer arrives at the pick-upfacility, the customer enters their PIN at a pick-up portal to receivethe goods that were ordered/purchased by the customer.

Still further, various systems and methods are known for tracking theprice of an item or service. For example, yapta.com provides an onlinewebsite whereby a user can find a flight and thereafter track prices forthe flight before electing to buy a ticket for the flight. To locate aflight for the purpose of tracking the price of flight tickets, the userenters into the yapta.com system flight information such as departingairport, arriving airport, departing time and date, and returning timeand date. Similarly, websites such as easypricetracker.com allow a userto search for a particular item, for example by means of text entry, andto setup alerts whereby the easypricetracker.com system will email theuser if the price drops.

SUMMARY

Described hereinafter is a system and method for providing self servicecheckout and item delivery using a mobile device as well as a system andmethod for using a mobile device to follow a price of an item and/orservice (hereinafter individually and collectively referred to as “anitem”). To this end, the system and method involves using a mobiledevice, such as a cellular telephone, to obtain information that isrepresentative of an item. This information may be a photograph of theitem or information obtained by scanning information carrying indiciaassociated with the item, such as a barcode.

The obtained information representative of the item may then be used toredirect a browser of the mobile device to a first web/WAP page havinginformation related to the item, the first web/WAP page having a linkthat is activatable to allow for the purchase of the item. In responseto activation of the link, the mobile device is caused to display asecond web/WAP page that provides a means for the user to specify amethod for paying for the item, such as by using an e-commerce likewallet, via a customer-service representative, etc., and a third web/WAPpage that provides a means for the user to specify a method by which theitem is to be picked up/checked out/delivered to the user, such as athome, in-store, at an in-car pickup facility, etc.

The obtained information representative of the item may also be used topresent on the mobile device a page by which a user can establishparameters for following the price of the item.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, propertiesand relationships of the system and method will be obtained from thefollowing detailed description and accompanying drawing which sets forthillustrative embodiments which are indicative of the various ways inwhich the principles of the system and method may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the systems and methods describedhereinafter reference may be had the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system in which the principles of thesubject invention may be employed;

FIGS. 2-3 illustrate an exemplary method for providing self servicecheckout and item delivery using a mobile device;

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrates an exemplary method for providing a pricefollowing service to a user of a mobile device; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate exemplary screen shots of mobile applicationfor providing price following information to the user of the mobiledevice.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to Figures, a system and method for providing servicesthat are tied to a mobile device, such as self service checkout and itemdelivery and price following are hereinafter described. As will becomeapparent, the system and method provides for a user to utilize a mobiledevice to obtain an item photograph and/or information from variousforms of information carrying indicia, such as a barcode, to, amongother things, purchase an item and/or service, specify purchase deliveryoptions, and/or follow the price of an item. While the system and methodwill be particularly described in the context of a cellular telephone10, it will be appreciated that the invention may be practiced using anytype of mobile device having the ability to scan or photograph an image,the ability to perform network communications, and the ability todisplay data, such as Web/WAP pages, received via the network.

To facilitate use of the cellular telephone 10 within the system,generally illustrated in FIG. 1, the cellular telephone 10 includes ameans to obtain information from the information carrying indicia 11. Tothis end, the cellular telephone 10 may include, for example,conventional barcode scanner technology or a camera and associated imageprocessing technology as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,311. Stillfurther, the cellular telephone 10 may include convention RFID readingtechnology. Thus, it will be appreciated that the information carryingindicia 11 may include any form of machine-readable code having either apublic standard encoding or a proprietary encoding and the cellulartelephone 10 will use the technology that is appropriate to access theinformation carried by the particular form of information carryingindicia that is being employed within the system.

By way of particular example illustrated in FIGS. 2-3, to scan a barcode11 a user may utilize a cellular telephone 10 having an attached orembedded digital camera. In this example, the user would launch anappropriate barcode imaging application that has been downloaded ontothe cellular telephone 10 and use the digital camera to capture an imageof the barcode 11. Once the barcode image 11 has been acquired by thecellular telephone 10, the barcode imaging application will function todecode the barcode to thereby extract information from the barcode. Theinformation extracted from the decoded barcode may then be sent via anetwork 12 where it is routed to an appropriate server 14, having one ormore associated data repositories 16, where it is further processed asdiscussed further below.

To provide for the downloading of a required imaging application intothe cellular telephone 10 it is contemplated that a user may bepresented with a display, for example within a retail establishment, ona Web/WAP (Wireless Access Point) page, in an SMS message, etc., whichadvertises the services provided by the subject invention. Within thisadvertising, the user could be further instructed to send a specifiedSMS message, for example “scan,” to a specified SMS address. In responseto the sending of such a message, the system may provide to the cellulartelephone 10 a reply message which includes a WAP link which the usermay activate, i.e., click on, to “opt-in” to the system and therebyinstall the imaging application upon their cellular phone 10. Inconnection with the installation of the imaging application upon thecellular phone 10 of the user, the system may additionally provide tothe user instructions on use of the system, e.g., how to “scan” indiciathat may be found on items such as price sheets, circulars, catalogs,display signs, monitors, price tags, etc. It will also be appreciatedthat, in certain circumstances, a required imaging application may bepre-installed on the cellular phone 10 of a user and pre-installedmobile devices may be on hand in retail outlets for the convenience ofthe users.

Once the cellular phone 10 of a user is setup as required to captureinformation from an information carrying indicia 11, the user mayutilize the cellular phone to achieve various results upon encounteringan information carrying indicia 11. For example, as illustrated in FIGS.2-3, upon encountering an information carrying indicia 11 that is ofinterest to a user, for example a barcode that has been associated withan item at a retail establishment, the user may launch the imagingapplication on their cellular phone 10 and proceed to scan or capturethe information carried by the information carrying indicia 11. Once thecellular phone 10 has captured the information from the informationcarrying indicia 11 that is of interest to the user, e.g., display 30,the system will function to use the information, for example asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,311, to redirect a browser applicationof the cellular phone 10 to a desired Web/WAP page. In the illustratedexample, the user may be first presented with a Web/WAP page 32 havinginformation for the item that was associated with the informationcarrying indicia 11 that was scanned, e.g., an image of the item,availability of the item, price of the item, textual description of theitem, etc. Furthermore, within the illustrated example, the Web/WAP page32 presented to the user may be provided with further links to allow theuser to send the Web/W AP page (or information related to the item) toanother user, for example via email or SMS, to access price comparisoninformation for the item and/or to request a price following for theitem 402, to view further information for the item or other items suchas upsell items related to the item, to add to a shopping list, topurchase the item, e.g., to “add to cart,” etc.

In the event that user elects to purchase an item that is being viewedby the user on their cellular phone 10, for example, by the useractivating the “add to cart” link 34, the system will respond byredirecting the browser application of the cellular device 10 to afurther Web/WAP page which, in this example, presents to the user thecontents of their shopping cart, i.e., a Web/WAP that informs the useras to the items that the user has indicated a desire to purchase. Inconnection with the item purchase process, the system may additionallypresent to the user a Web/WAP page 36 which allows the user to select adesired delivery option for the item, e.g., in store pick-up 60/70/80,home delivery 50, etc., as well as a Web/WAP page 38 which allows theuser to select a desired payment option, e.g., to pay via a paymentoption already registered with the system (e.g., using a “M-Wallet”option), to pay via interactions with a customer service representative,etc. It will be appreciated that the Web/WAP pages 36 and 38 may beembodied on the same Web/WAP page without limitation. Once the itempurchase process has been completed by the user, e.g., payment and theability to deliver has been verified by the system using conventionalmethods, the system may then provide to the cellular phone 10 of theuser an order confirmation (which may also indicate a time ofavailability for item pick-up if specified by the user as a deliveryoption) as well as an SMS receipt 40.

To then pick-up a purchased item if so specified by the user, the usermay simply use the confirmation/receipt and/or their cell phone numberin connection with a kiosk driven item pickup procedure 70 as describedin, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,345. It will also be appreciatedthat, by providing a confirmation/receipt to the cellular phone 10 ofthe user, the user may be provided with an option to obtain item off theshelf 80 whereupon the user may then simply show theconfirmation/receipt with the item(s) purchased to a sales associate tothereby exit the retail establishment.

In the event a user elected to pickup a purchased item using an in-carpickup process 60, the user may further use their cellular phone 10 toinform the system when they are ready for delivery of the item(s)purchased. For example, when the user arrives at the pick-up facility,the user may scan a barcode that has been affixed to a parking spot, SMSa message as directed by a sign associated with a parking spot, etc. tothereby notify the system that they are ready for item pick-up.Generally, the information provided to the system will include theparking spot in which the user is located as well as information bywhich the prior purchase history of the user may be accessed, e.g., thecell-phone number of the user. The system will then use the informationthat is provided from the cellular telephone 10 to thereby deliver tothe vehicle of the user the appropriate purchased items.

As will be appreciated, via use of the described scanning application inany location, such as a home, a store of a third party retailer, etc, auser may be presented with a web page that provides to the user the hostretailer's information for that item or an item determined by the hostretailer to be similar thereto (both individually and collectivelyreferred to herein as the item) such that, from any location, the usermay purchase the item from the host retailer, schedule the purchaseditem for delivery from or pickup at a location of the host retailer,etc.

In the event that user elects to following a price for the item, forexample by the user clicking on a displayed “follow this item” icon 402,the system will respond by redirecting the browser application of thecellular device 10 to a further Web/WAP page 404, such as illustrated inFIG. 4, by which, in this example, the user is provided a means to setupone or more parameters for following the price of the item correspondingto the indicia read or photograph taken through use of the cellulardevice 10. By way of example only, the user can specify 406 a price thatthe user would like to pay for the item and can request that pricealerts related to the price of the item be sent according to one or moreof: every time the price drops, weekly; only if the price falls belowthe price specified by the user (as set above); when there are specialsales for the item (whether online or at a store); and the like. etc. Inconnection with the establishment of these price alert notificationparameters, the user may also inform the system of one or more addressesto which such price alert notifications are to be sent to the customer,for example, via an email message (with the user providing an emailaddress if necessary), via a text message (with the user providing amobile number if necessary), via a social networking message (with theuser providing a social networking username if necessary), etc. Onceestablished, the price notification service can be set to execute for apredetermined period of time (such as six months), for a user specifiedperiod of time, until such time as the system detects that the userpurchases the item, and/or for as long as the user does not request acancellation of the notification service. In addition, once the pricenotification service has been established through use of the mobiledevice 10, the information pertaining thereto may be provided to acentralized system whereby the user can modify the establishednotification parameters, follow the price of the item in real time,purchase the item, etc. by means of a .com website that is associatedwith the host retailer.

After the user completes and submits the price notification parametersetup page 404 to the system of the host retailer 421, the user mayreceive a confirmation 430 that the price notification has been setupwith the host retailer system and the host retailer system will proceedto issue notifications according to the established notificationparameters 432. During the period of time that the item notificationevent is active, the host retailer system may also function to provideto the user, via one or more of the established notification channels,additional information concerning the item, such as posted reviews (by“social network” friends of the user and/or others), news related to theitem, etc. By way of example only, FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a mobileapplication having a “news center” by which a customer can access pricealerts for one or more items as establish by the customer as well as anyother news type alerts that may be provided by the system. As desired,the host retailer system may also be setup to respond 434 to the priceestablished by the customer during the notification setup process asfurther illustrated in FIG. 5.

Turning to FIG. 5 and as noted above, the host retailer system willreceive from the customer 502 input pertaining to an item to be followedwhich may further include a price that the customer would like to payfor the item. Input to the host retailer system may additionally includecompetitor input 504 for the item, such as current competitor pricingfor the same or similar items, which competitor input may be provided tothe system by the merchant, may be scraped from a competitor website,etc., as well as merchant input 506 for that item, such as iteminventory level and an acceptable price range for the item. With thisinput, an offer intelligence tool 508 implemented by the host retailersystem may proceed to make various determinations related to thecustomer's price tracking of and general interest in the item. By way ofexample only and without limitation, the offer intelligence tool 508 mayperform various comparisons using the received inputs to perform one ormore of the following:

1) determine 510 if the desired price for the item included in thecustomer input 502 is within or above the acceptable price range asincluded in the merchant input 506 and, if so, cause the system to takethe steps necessary to proceed with a sale of the item to the customerat the desired price indicated in the customer input 502;

2) determine 512 if the desired price for the item included in thecustomer input 502 is lower than the acceptable price range as includedin the merchant input 506 and, if so, cause the system to recommend tothe customer (using an email communication of the like) other, similaritems that are being offered for sale by the merchant at or near thecustomer's desired price;

3) determine 514 if the competitor's price for item as included in thecompetitor input 504 is lower than the acceptable price range asincluded in the merchant input 506 and, if so, cause the merchant'sacceptable price range for the item to be downwardly adjusted whereuponthe comparisons herein described may be repeated as necessary; and

4) determine 516 if the competitor's price for the item included asincluded in the competitor input 504 is higher than the acceptable pricerange as included in the merchant input 506 and, if so, cause themerchant's acceptable price range for the item to be upwardly adjustedwhereupon the comparisons herein described may be repeated as necessary.

In the case of 2) above, in the event that the customer does not proceedto purchase a similar item that was recommended to the customer, theprice notifications will continue to be sent to the customer in themanner that was specified.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been described indetail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and alternatives to those details could be developed inlight of the overall teachings of the disclosure. For example, it willbe appreciated that the subject system may be used in connection with aregistry application, such as bridal or baby registry, where a userwould populate the registry using the mobile phone scanning device andthe registry would be available on-line or in-store to facilitatepurchasing of items. Accordingly, the particular arrangement disclosedis meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of theinvention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claimsand any equivalents thereof.

All references discussed within this application are hereby incorporatedby reference in their entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-readable media embodied on anon-transient, physical memory device having stored thereoncomputer-executable instructions for facilitating a following of a priceof an item, the instructions performing steps comprising: receiving froma mobile device information obtained by the mobile device that isrepresentative of the item; using the obtained information to cause apage to be displayed on the mobile device, wherein the page comprisesone or more user interface elements with which a user interacts toestablish one or more parameters for following the price of the itemprior to purchasing the item; receiving from the mobile device the oneor more parameters for following the price of the item prior topurchasing the item; and causing one or more alerts having informationrelated to the price of the item to be sent to the user according to thereceived one or more parameters.
 2. The computer-readable media asrecited in claim 1, wherein the information obtained by the mobiledevice comprises a photograph of the item.
 3. The computer-readablemedia as recited in claim 1, wherein the information obtained by themobile device comprises a scan of a barcode associated with the item. 4.The computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the one ormore parameters comprises an address to which the one or more alerts areto be sent.
 5. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 4,wherein the address comprises an email address.
 6. The computer-readablemedia as recited in claim 4, wherein the address comprises a phonenumber.
 7. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 4, whereinthe address comprises a social networking username.
 8. Thecomputer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or moreparameters comprises a customer's desired price for purchasing the item.9. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein theinstructions cause an alert to be sent when the customer's desired pricefor the item meets or exceeds a current price for the item.
 10. Thecomputer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or moreparameters comprises a time schedule at which the one or more pricealerts are to be sent.
 11. The computer-readable media as recited inclaim 1, wherein the instructions cause news related to the item to besent to the user.
 12. The computer-readable media as recited in claim11, wherein the news comprises a peer review of the item.
 13. A methodfor facilitating a following of a price of an item, comprising: in amobile device including at least one processor, a display, and a memory,receiving information that is representative of the item; displaying,based on the received information, a page on the mobile device, whereinthe page comprises one or more user interface elements with which a userinteracts to establish one or more parameters for following the price ofthe item prior to purchasing the item; receiving one or more parametersfor following the price of the item prior to purchasing the item; andcommunicating one or more alerts having information related to the priceof the item, to the user according to the received one or moreparameters, to facilitate the purchasing of the item by the user. 14.The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the one or more parameterscomprises a customer's desired price for purchasing the item.
 15. Acomputer-readable media embodied on a non-transient, physical memorydevice having stored thereon computer-executable instructions forfacilitating a following of a price of an item, the instructionsperforming steps comprising: receiving from a mobile device informationobtained by the mobile device that is representative of the item; usingthe obtained information to cause a page to be displayed on the mobiledevice, wherein the page comprises one or more user interface elementswith which a user interacts to establish one or more parameters forfollowing the price of the item prior to purchasing the item, andwherein the one or more parameters comprises a customer's desired pricefor purchasing the item; receiving from the mobile device the one ormore parameters for following the price of the item prior to purchasingthe item; causing one or more alerts having information related to theprice of the item to be sent to the user according to the received oneor more parameters; receiving merchant input comprising a price rangefor selling the item; comparing the customer's desired price forpurchasing the item with the price range for selling the item; andinitiating a sale of the item when the customer's desired price iswithin or above the price range.
 16. The computer-readable media asrecited in claim 15, wherein the instructions perform the steps of:locating one or more items similar to the item and having a pricesubstantially near the customer's desired price; and sending to the usera recommendation for the one or more similar items when the customer'sdesired price is below the price range.
 17. The computer-readable mediaas recited in claim 15, wherein the instructions perform the steps of:receiving competitor input comprising a competitor's price for sellingthe item; comparing the competitor's price for selling the item with theprice range; and downwardly adjusting the price range to match thecompetitor's price for selling the item when the competitor's price forthe item is below the price range.
 18. The computer-readable media asrecited in claim 15, wherein the instructions perform the steps of:receiving competitor input comprising a competitor's price for sellingthe item; comparing the competitor's price for selling the item with theprice range; and upwardly adjusting the price range to match thecompetitor's price for selling the item when the competitor's price forselling the item is above the price range.
 19. A computer-readable mediaembodied on a non-transient, physical memory device having storedthereon computer-executable instructions for facilitating a following ofa price of an item, the instructions performing steps comprising:receiving from a mobile device information obtained by the mobile devicethat is representative of the item; using the obtained information tocause a page to be displayed on the mobile device, wherein the pagecomprises one or more user interface elements with which a userinteracts to establish one or more parameters for following the price ofthe item prior to purchasing the item, wherein the one or moreparameters comprises a customer's desired price for purchasing the item;receiving from the mobile device the one or more parameters forfollowing the price of the item prior to purchasing the item; causingone or more alerts having information related to the price of the itemto be sent to the user according to the received one or more parameters;receiving merchant input comprising a price range for selling the item;comparing the customer's desired price for purchasing the item with theprice range for selling the item; and initiating a sale of the item whenthe customer's desired price is within or above the price range.
 20. Thecomputer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the instructionsperform the steps of: locating one or more items similar to the item andhaving a price substantially near the customer's desired price; andsending to the user a recommendation for the one or more similar itemswhen the customer's desired price is below the price range.
 21. Thecomputer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the instructionsperform the steps of: receiving competitor input comprising acompetitor's price for selling the item; comparing the competitor'sprice for selling the item with the price range; and downwardlyadjusting the price range to match the competitor's price for sellingthe item when the competitor's price for the item is below the pricerange.
 22. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, whereinthe instructions perform the steps of: receiving competitor inputcomprising a competitor's price for selling the item; comparing thecompetitor's price for selling the item with the price range; andupwardly adjusting the price range to match the competitor's price forselling the item when the competitor's price for selling the item isabove the price range.
 23. A method for facilitating a following of aprice of an item, comprising: in a mobile device including at least oneprocessor, a display, and a memory, receiving information that isrepresentative of the item; displaying, based on the receivedinformation, a page on the mobile device, wherein the page comprises oneor more user interface elements with which a user interacts to establishone or more parameters for following the price of the item prior topurchasing the item, wherein the one or more parameters comprises acustomer's desired price for purchasing the item; receiving one or moreparameters for following the price of the item prior to purchasing theitem; communicating one or more alerts having information related to theprice of the item, to the user according to the received one or moreparameters, to facilitate the purchasing of the item by the user;receiving merchant input comprising a price range for selling the item;comparing the customer's desired price for purchasing the item with theprice range for selling the item; and initiating a sale of the item whenthe customer's desired price is within or above the price range.
 24. Themethod as recited in claim 23, comprising: sending to the user arecommendation for one or more similar items when the customer's desiredprice is below the price range.